New Hennessey Blackbird Wants To Give You ‘Analog Overload’ With No Turbos, No Screens, And A Manual

Naming your car after the SR-71 Blackbird is a bold move. The Cold War-era spy plane is among the coolest aircraft of all time, with an iconic shape and record-shattering speed and altitude. It’s an aviation legend. So to name your supercar after it, you need to be pretty damn confident it’s gonna be good. It should come as no surprise that Hennessey is bold enough to do it, but ironically, the new Hennessey Blackbird has the opposite objective of the iconic spy plane. The SR-71 needed to be the most high-tech, highest-performing plane in history, but this new supercar is meant to be as analog and old-school as possible. 

Hennessey calls the Blackbird “analog overload,” and it is about as analog as brand-new supercars get. But then Hennessey calls it a “touring hypercar,” two words I feel are antonyms. Touring cars are made for long distance, comfortable cruising, while the term “hypercar” is typically reserved for the highest-performing cars in the world. Mixed messages aside, the Blackbird has a naturally aspirated V8, a manual transmission, analog gauges without any additional screens, and even a turn-key ignition. So if you’re looking for an old-school mid-engine machine and you have $2.5 million to burn, this might be for you. (But let’s be real, is a Hennessey for you?)

The Blackbird has a unique engine in the Hennessey family. Instead of the Venom F5′s twin-turbo 6.6-liter V8, the Blackbird has a 6.2-liter naturally aspirated V8 made by Ilmor Engineering. It makes somewhere between 800 and 850 horsepower, and revs all the way to 9,000 rpm. That engine only gets paired to an open-gate six-speed manual and drives only the rear wheels, and there’s no electrification or hybridization to be found.

Hennessey also doesn’t have an exact curb weight yet, but it claims a target weight of under 3,000 pounds. We do know that it’ll have high-end performance features like ABS and traction control. If it can meet its target power and curb weight, the Blackbird is expected to hit 60 mph in 2.5 seconds and reach a top speed of 220 mph. Those are a lot of ifs that customers are asked to accept when plopping down $2.5 million, especially given that the Blackbird won’t enter production for a few years, though the company does say it’ll be homologated for “key global markets.”

This is Hennessey’s best looking car yet. OK, so it’s a bit generic — I see hints of Porsche 918 in the front end and McLaren P1 in the rear three-quarters — but it’s the prettiest supercar to ever come from Texas. The body is made from carbon fiber and built around “a full-carbon tub.” Those two vertical flaps are active aero stabilizers, which deploy at 71 mph and sit at +/- 71 degrees. Cute. 

Inside, it’s simple and far nicer and more expensive-looking than other Hennesseys. There are no screens, only a cluster of analog gauges ahead of the driver with a central tachometer. Hennessey says its focus was on low NVH, improved visibility, and comfort. It has four cupholders, adaptive suspension, and discreet device connectivity. So you can connect your phone to the stereo, but don’t even think about Apple CarPlay because there’s no screens, remember?

Despite its analog nature, the Blackbird is supposed to be “touring-focused” and capable of comfortably cruising for 800 miles per day. It also has enough luggage space for two full-size carry-on bags in the frunk and storage under the rear quarter panels. While it’s certainly possible for an analog mid-engine performance car to deliver driving thrills and comfortable touring capability, it’s a tough line to walk. Many of Gordon Murray’s sports cars were designed to do that, like the McLaren F1 and GMA T.50. But John Hennessey isn’t Gordon Murray.

You’ll be able to see the Blackbird for the first time during Monterey Car Week at The Quail on August 14. Only 71 customers (we get it, Hennessey, it’s named after the SR-71) will be able to get one of these, and more than two thirds of the allocations have already been gobbled up. Production is expected to start in 2029-2030, after Venom F5 production ends in 2028, but nothing about this car seems set in stone yet. Says Hennessey about who is spending over two million bucks on the Blackbird: 

The car responds to a growing group of collectors and drivers who want a car that feels special at any speed. These owners value throttle response, steering feel, shift quality, engine character, visibility, comfort, and the sense of occasion created by a beautiful machine. Blackbird is designed for people who still love to drive, who want to cover distance, and who want their hypercar to feel alive on every road, not only at the limit.

The Blackbird is said to be the transition point from Hennessey’s speed-record era, with the Venom, into its new driver-focused era. If it can deliver on all of its expectations, this could be a thrilling sports car that’s fast and usable everyday. But it’s got a lot of ifs.